by Enrico Oliari –
The conflict in Gaza, which now sees almost 23 thousand Palestinians killed, mostly civilians (8 thousand children), by the Israeli army, increasingly risks spreading and inflaming the Middle East. Israel’s killing in Beirut of the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Aruri, on January 2 could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah once again making threats Israel, however, putting it on the defensive, that is, “after eliminating the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Israelis will attack southern Lebanon”. For Nasrallah the clash is therefore “inevitable”, and even today there were rockets launched from southern Lebanon towards Israel, with the consequent Israeli response of bombing targets in Lebanon.
The fear of an extension of the conflict to Lebanon led the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, to state during a meeting today with his Lebanese colleague Abdallah Bou Habib that “It is imperative to avoid escalation in the Middle East, and that Lebanon is dragged into a regional conflict.” He also stated that “I send the same message to Israel: no one will emerge victorious from a regional conflict.”
What further inflamed the situation was an attack in Baghdad where, according to accusations, US drones killed Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi and another high-ranking officer of the Hashd al-Shaabi, an acronym that groups Iraqi Shiite paramilitary forces. In response, Iran organized joint exercises between Iraqi paramilitary forces at the Arvand River, which separates Iran from Iraq.
ISIS instead claimed responsibility for the attack three days ago in Kerman, near the tomb of former Pasdaran commander Qassem Soleimani, which cost the lives of 84 people and injured 284.
Meanwhile in Israel the political situation is very tense, with the far right wanting to continue the conflict, and more and more citizens favoring a diplomatic solution. The recent war council saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the eye of the storm, especially after the Gaza conflict. The ministers of the Likud, the prime minister’s party, clashed with the military led by the chief of defense staff Herzi Halevi, who allegedly created a commission of former senior officers to study the mistakes committed before October 7, the day of attack by Hamas: journalistic investigations such as those by the New York Times and Channel 12 have shown that the Israeli services were aware of Hamas’s plan, so politics is now being accused by the facts.
For the “after” Gaza, with those who would like the removal of the Palestinians and the definitive occupation of the territory by the Israelis. Minister for Tradition Amichai Eliahu said that “we must destroy their national plan and encourage them to emigrate”, and ministers Itmar Ben-Gvir (Security) and Bezalel Smotrich (Finance) also want the expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza .
On the other hand, the Zionist project is that of plundering the land of the Palestinians by forcing them to diaspora in refugee camps in other countries, perhaps, it has been proposed, in Congo.
Despite criticism from all over the world, including the Americans and Europeans, but also at home opposition leader Yair Lapid defined them as “irresponsible and dangerous”.
Remaining in the US and EU, after the Israelis made their opposition known, the much acclaimed “Two State” solution suddenly disappeared from the mouths of government leaders and the mass press.
